GUNNER HAROLD RALPH SHEPHERD MM
AUSTRALIAN FIELD ARTILLERY
17TH AUGUST 1917 AGE 29
BURIED: BRANDHOEK NEW MILITARY CEMETERY NO. 3, BELGIUM
Just in case you thought that all these young men nipped off merrily to do their duty as some contemporary writers would like to have us think, Harold Shepherd's father indicates that his son had made a positive, unselfish decision when he decided to enlist. It's interesting that we have an earlier version of the inscription, which has been crossed out and replaced with the one above. This is the earlier inscription:
He gave of his all to duty
England, his country
And his home
It looks pretty much the same - it could even be said that the original version is slightly more elegant - but can you see that the emphasis is different? In his father's opinion - father signed for the inscription - Harold Shepherd didn't just give his all for duty, he surrendered himself to it, had there been a bit of a struggle? Then there is the change from 'England, his country and his home' to 'his old home and England his country'. Harold Shepherd had emigrated to Australia, or at least was working as a stockman in Australia when he enlisted in March 1915, but England was still 'his country', just in case you thought that he'd only done his duty by England but that Australia was now his country and his home.
I can't see when Harold emigrated to Australia but he left behind in Bexhill-on-Sea a mother and father, and four brothers and sisters, three older than him and one younger. The younger one, James Harper Shepherd, was a territorial soldier and had been serving in the 1st/5th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment since the outbreak of war. James was killed in action on 5 May 1915, two months after Harold had enlisted in Australia.
Shepherd served with the 2nd Brigade Australian Field Artillery. In August 1917 it was 'In the Field' near Ypres. The war diary makes no specific mention of Gunner Shepherd but reports that following an enemy air raid on the guns on 15 August the casualties included "12 ORs wounded, 9 horses killed, 16 wounded".